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Train Keeps Losing Power on DCC Layout
Patrick asks readers:
“I’m running an HO scale layout with DCC, but I keep running into this annoying issue: the train runs for a bit, then just stops, loses power, and starts up again… over and over. It’s making it hard to actually run anything. Any idea what might be causing this and how I can fix it?”
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If it always happens at the same spot(s), and cleaning the track doesn’t help, I would look at the nearby rail joiners. Soldering jumpers across the rail joints might help as would making sure that your power feeders aren’t too far apart.
If it happens randomly around the layout, I would open and examine the locomotive with an eye for poor connections. If it is only one loco, I would suspect the decoder may be failing.
If you have more than the one loco, try running a few at the same time. Do all of them stall at the same time? If they do, I would look for something that may be creating a short and causing a DCC reset.
Next, I would look at the rolling stock on the track to see if any may be causing a momentary short circuit. You might try running the locomotive without having any cars on the layout to eliminate the cars from the problem.